With our report earlier today that AMC is keeping ‘The Walking Dead’ around until the proverbial wheels fall off, it’s almost refreshing when a network or filmmakers explain that a TV series has a definitive beginning, middle, and end. And with the upcoming HBO/BBC co-production, “His Dark Materials,” producers Jane Tranter and Jack Thorne want fans to know that this is not a show that is going to drag out three novels over the course of 14 seasons.
Speaking at a TCA panel (via SlashFilm), the duo explained that “His Dark Materials” will condense the classic Philip Pullman fantasy series of three novels into a tidy 16-episode run told over the course of two eight-episode seasons. Why? Well, of course, there are creative reasons, but the main reason seems to be a logistical issue.
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“We have children in the show who as we all know grow up very quickly,” Tranter said. “They don’t look the same 12 months later. And yet, Lyra Belacqua, now Lyra Silvertongue, is the same age.”
She added, “So, we had to find a way of turning the piece around quite quickly in order to allow that story to be told. There is a great thing in ‘His Dark Materials’ of a girl going through puberty and we wanted to be able to pace that story out age appropriately. And so, that’s why we went, everyone, HBO and the BBC, went with us for 16 episodes.”
Of course, when you break down three dense novels into only 16 hours of TV, changes to the structure of the story have to be made. But again, the producers explain that any cuts or additions that were made were done with the spirit of the books in mind and not just to spice things up.
“There are a few treats I’ve stolen from future books that I’ve tried to infuse this season with,” Thorne said. “To give that away would be to give away some quite big secrets, so I can’t quite do that here. The whole thing was looking at the whole story, three books, and going, ‘How did Philip think of them like this? And how can we celebrate them in the best possible way?’ And sometimes, that celebration involved moving certain elements forward.”
The first season of “His Dark Materials” debuts this fall on BBC and HBO.